Where has the Ravens’ pass rush been this season?
By Joe Schiller
The Baltimore Ravens made a commitment to improving the pass rush this offseason but we haven’t seen that translate on to the football field.
After totaling just 31 sacks last season, the Baltimore Ravens made a concerted effort to add talent to the pass rush department this offseason. They cut an aging Elvis Dumervil and selectedTyus Bowser, Chris Wormley, and Tim Williams in the first three rounds of this year’s draft.
These moves didn’t come without a cost on the offensive side of the ball. Right tackle Rick Wagner and fullback Kyle Juszczyk walked in free agency. Not to mention, Ozzie Newsome chose not to select an offensive skill player in the draft. But after adding all this talent to help the pass rush, are the Ravens really getting that much more pressure on the quarterback? When you look at the numbers, it really doesn’t seem like it.
So far through ten weeks, the Ravens are tied 12th in the NFL with 22 sacks. That puts them on pace to finish the regular season with around 37 sacks. That would give them six more sacks than last season and you have to ask yourself, is that really worth it? Let’s take a look at the top sacks leaders on the defense right now.
Suggs- 5.5 sacks
Judon- 3 sacks
Bowser- 2 sacks
Smith- 1.5 sacks
That’s not great.
A 35-year old Terrell Suggs leads the way with 5.5 sacks, which is great but he’s got limited time left in the league. It’s concerning to see the rest of the defense struggle to get to the quarterback. Rookies like Tyus Bowser and Tim Williams were drafted specifically to get generate a pass rush. Yes, they’re just rookies, but the Ravens drafted them with the expectation that they’d contribute early on. So far, that hasn’t been the case.
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Matt Judon and Za’Darius Smith are the two pass rushers that have to take that next step. Both are promising talents but just 4.5 sacks combined between the duo is unacceptable. When Suggs is gone, they will be the two players at outside linebacker who will be relied upon to get to the quarterback.
The most concerning part of about the Ravens’ pass rush problem is the sack numbers on the defensive line. Resigning Brandon Williams was huge up front but he’s not a player that gets to the quarterback often. The same can be said about Michael Pierce. Brent Urban was the best pass rusher up front before he suffered a season-ending injury. But even then, he only has three career sacks. It hurt losing Lawrence Guy and trading Timmy Jernigan away this offseason. They were consistent four to five sack players a season, which adds up.
The bottom line
I find it ironic how Joe Flacco can get pressured on a three-man rush but the Ravens can’t get pressure sending four or five on the pass rush. Is it a Dean Pees problem? Or just a talent problem? It hurts to have a one veteran talent and a ton of young talent but not much in-between.
The lack of pass rush is an obvious problem. We saw it just as recently in Week 9 against the Titans. Marcus Mariota had all day in the pocket and it doesn’t matter how well the Ravens secondary has played because eventually, they’re going to get beat. It could even be Brock Osweiler in the pocket and he’ll play well if he’s not getting pressured.
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Even at 4-5, the Ravens are still pushing for a playoff spot. They come up against some inexperienced quarterbacks down the stretch and need to take advantage of that. The pass rush is the key and with that comes turnovers, which the Ravens have been able to force this season. Let’s hope we see more of that when the team comes off the bye next week.